Geology and geohydrology elements of the environmental research plan, BX In Situ Oil Shale Project, Rio Blanco County, Colorado

Technical Report · Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5365103· OSTI ID:5365103

Loo, W. W.; Markley, D. E.

This report was prepared as a part of the overall environmental research plan for the BX In Situ Oil Shale Project. The BX In Situ Oil Shale Project is located in the central portion of the Piceance Creek Basin of northwestern Colorado. Within this basin is a section of oil shale bearing rocks in the Parachute Creek member of the Green River Formation commonly referred to as the leached zone which contains very large reserves of oil in place as oil shale. This section of leached zone has enough prmeability and porosity to permit in situ retorting of the oil shale contained therein without resorting to mining and/or other fracturing techniques. The purpose of the BX In Situ Oil Shale Project is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of using superheated steam at 1000/sup 0/F and 1500 psig as a heat carrying medium to retort oil shale in the leched zone in situ and to provide a mechanism for the recovery of this oil with minimum impact on the environment. More specifically, the oil shale will be retorted by injecting superheated steam into the leached zone through an array of injection wells and recovering the steam/water/oil and gas produced from the leached zone through an array of production wells. The environmental research plan is designed to determine the surface and subsurface effects of project operations in order to allow estimates of the environmental impacts of commercial oil shale development. To allow determination of project impacts, basic geologic and geohydrologic conditions were determined.

• Research Organization: VTN Consolidated, Inc., Irvine, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• DOE Contract Number: ET-78-F-03-1747; FC20-78LC10747
• OSTI ID: 5365103
• Report Number(s): SAN-1747-T2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
58 GEOSCIENCES
AQUIFERS
WATER QUALITY
COLORADO
GEOLOGY
HYDROLOGY
IN-SITU RETORTING
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
STEAM
OIL SHALES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
DATA COMPILATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
MAPS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PROCESS DEVELOPMENT UNITS
RECOVERY
SHALE OIL
TABLES
WELLS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
DATA
DATA FORMS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
IN-SITU PROCESSING
INFORMATION
MINERAL OILS
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RETORTING
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SYNTHETIC FUELS
SYNTHETIC PETROLEUM
USA
041000* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Environmental Aspects
520200 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)
580100 - Geology & Hydrology- (-1989)